Page 45 of Forbidden Desires

With a groan, I pick up the phone and hit the call button before I can second-guess myself again. He answers on the first ring, his voice sharp and accusing.

“About damn time, Suzie. Thought you might have fallen off the edge of the earth.”

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Hi, big brother. Good morning to you too. How have you been doing? Miss your baby sister at all?”

“Don’t try that shit with me,” Ethan snaps. “How long were you planning to keep this secret from us? Or from Pete and Dexter, for that matter?”

I close my eyes, guilt squeezing my chest. “I wasn’t planning anything, okay? I’ve barely known for a few weeks and am kind of still coming to terms with it all. And it wasn’t the right time yet, okay?”

“The right time?” His voice rises, and I have to pull the phone away from my ear. “Are you serious, Suzie? There’s never going to be a perfect time for something like this. You’re pregnant and you’re acting like it’s some kind of dirty secret. Do you have any idea how unfair it is, keeping this from them?”

My grip tightens on the phone, and anger starts bubbling up to replace the guilt. “You don’t think I know how hard this is, Ethan? I’m trying to figure it out, okay? It’s not like I don’t have a reason to be a little weary.”

I sigh, my head falling forward against the table. “It’s been so hard, E. I feel so fucking alone.”

“You could have told me,” he says, softer this time, but no less firm. “Hell, if you’d told Pete and Dexter you wouldn’t have had to be alone through this. Why aren’t you telling them, Suzie?”

I stay silent, because what can I say to that, that I haven’t already said?

“I’m also making Annie tell Monty and Lo if you don’t do it soon,” Ethan says, cutting right through my crazy thoughts. “I can appreciate you needing time to deal with it, but I’m not letting you go through this alone, and Iknowthey will be able to talk sense into your stubborn head.”

“You wouldn’t!” I cry out, my heart lurching at his threat.

“Watch me.” His tone is steel. “Pete and Dexter deserve to know that one of them is going to be a dad soon. And you deserve to have support, whether you think you do or not.”

I swallow hard, my throat dry. “Fine,” I mutter. “I’ll tell them. It’s not like I wasn’t planning on it, at some point,” I add petulantly.

“When?”

I glare at the phone, wishing I could strangle him through it. “Soon. Like in the next few days. I’m working on it. I just need to figure out how to say it.”

There’s a long pause before Ethan responds. “You’ve got this, little sister,” he says, and I can hear the worry underneath his tough-guy act. “I love you.”

He hangs up before I can respond, leaving me staring at the screen with a mix of frustration and dread.

I push my phone aside and open my laptop, chewing on my lip as I type ‘how to tell your baby daddy you’re pregnant’. I might have more than one daddy to tell, but I don’t think Google will be much help with that kind of search.

Not surprisingly, there are quite a few helpful articles and how-to blog posts. I scroll through the different options until I find one that I don’t hate.

Another quick search shows me that there’s a place close by that can custom- print baby onesies, but before I can even think to dial the number I realize that I have five minutes to get to work.

Rushing out the door, I barely take the time to grab my bag and coat. I’ve never been so thankful that I live so close to my place of employment. The museum looms ahead of me as I jog down the sidewalk, the frosty morning air biting at my cheeks.

At least, now that I have a firmer plan on how to deal with my sharing my secret,I feel better. More positive.

Obviously, I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings.

My boots hit a patch of ice, and before I even have time to react, my feet go out from under me.

Shit.

Fuck.

Dammit.

Those are my last thoughts before everything goes dark.

Opening my eyes,I blink a few times, trying to bring the bright room into focus. The faint smell of antiseptic and the soft beeping clue me in as to where I am. The pounding of my skull, in turn, reminds me how the hell I ended up in the damn clinic a second time.

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